This is Cleo in her new uniform and Sidney with his Avengers backpack.
Cleo in her new classroom on Monday, August 6.
Sidney in his classroom. He's starting in a new class on Monday, Aug. 13. He's such a big boy.
More of Cleo in her classroom.
Cleo browsing through a book waiting for the time that Roger and I need to head out.
We dropped Sidney off at daycare around 7:20am then headed over to Deerwood Academy for Cleo's first day of kindergarten. Kids eat breakfast in their classrooms from 7:30-8:00am, after which the school day begins. Roger and I hung around in Cleo's classroom until around 8am. When we got up to leave, Cleo started to quietly cry and cling to my leg. I started to tear up but did not want her to see me cry. I told her she would be ok. Her teacher, Ms. Edwards, took Cleo's hand and told her she would be okay. We headed out.
When we got home, I completely sobbed into Roger's arms. I just felt so bad about leaving her in such a foreign environment. I felt bad mostly because I was worried she would have a terrible time and then be unhappy about returning the next day. I also felt like I felt when we dropped her off in daycare for the first time when she was 3 months old. I know that's not rational but it's how I felt all day. I felt empty and a little heartsick. I tried to be rational but just couldn't. I am so happy I took the day off from work.
After I composed myself, Roger and I headed out to run errands. We had to get Cleo and Sidney new paint smocks from Ikea - it's the only place that consistently carries them. Then we got some other items at Walmart (Rice Crispy treats for class snack), Finish Line (we got Sidney a pair of Hulk sneakers which he LOVES), and a big beauty supply store. At the beauty supply store, we got Cleo a cute navy hair bow and some other barrettes so that she has an even bigger selection to choose from when I do her hair.
After our errands, we headed home to eat lunch. Then we picked Cleo up at 2:30pm. I was so excited to pick her up. When we got there, all of the kids were eating parts of their lunch that they hadn't finished earlier. Kindergarteners eat lunch at 10:30am. Then they have 15 minutes of recess on the playground. We headed home. We started working on her homework sheets. It takes around 1.25 - 1.5 hours each night to get it all done. She has to write her name a lot on one sheet. Then she has to write her spelling words 3 times each. For every assignment, she has to write her name and the date on the top of the sheet. She also has letter writing homework and cursive homework. That I think is premature because it is clear from the daily sign in sheet that the kids all write their names on that most of the kids' handwriting is terrible and many of them have difficulty writing their names. If they cannot print their names, the school has no business trying to teach them cursive. Agh!
Then she has math homework. This week math homework consisted of folding a sheet of paper into 4 quadrants and having Cleo write "1 (one)", etc. in each quadrant. Then gluing or drawing something in that amount. For example, for 3, she glued some alphabet pasta pieces (CJW) onto the paper. On Wednesday, she had to do 5-8.
Then we read to her and ask her questions about the book, thankfully we can do that during our normal book reading at night. There's a book log that we maintain during the week. This weekend we are working on her science project that is due on August 20. She has to make a book and cut out or draw a picture of an everyday object she sees or encounters that represents one of the 5 senses. For taste, she cut out a picture of a strawberry. For sight, she drew a balloon because lately we have been keeping a helium balloon on each of the kids' chairs - they're only $1 each at the Dollar Tree. We still have to do touch, hearing and smell.
As you can see, the amount of homework Cleo is required to complete is outrageous. Roger and I take turns doing it with her each night. I am not ready to say anything to the teacher yet but I am curious what they're doing all day if they're having us do so much work with her at night. Also, I want to know what happens if a parent refuses to do it all each night. I would agree to do 30 minute a night but doing more than double that each night for kindergarten just makes no sense to me. I spoke with my neighbor about it. She's an art teacher for the Fulton County public school system - it's a different system than we are in since we are part of the Atlanta Public School System. Her daughter attended elementary school in our system. She said that one of the purposes of all the homework is that it makes parents feel like the school takes education seriously. That's not working for me. I will wait a bit before I make a polite fuss about it.
Roger dropped Cleo and Sidney off at school and daycare this week. He drops Sidney off first, then takes Cleo to class. He said she was sad on Tuesday but did not cry. Her little friend Luna asked her to sit next to her but Cleo sat one seat over. I suppose she was just adjusting. Luna is now one of Cleo's table mates along with a few other kids. Every afternoon, Cleo is picked up by a Kids R Kids bus and taken to Kids R Kids. I pick Cleo and Sidney up from there. I asked her on Wednesday what her favorite part of school was and she said getting picked up by Mr. Bob (the bus driver) and going to Kids R Kids. I told her in time she will love school and her new teacher.
Friday evening (yesterday) Roger was watching a PBA 30 fundraiser, that's one of our local PBS stations. The channel was showing a Celtic Women concert at the Fox Theater (an old, nice theater in Atlanta) and Sidney really enjoyed it. The Celtic Women were covering Broadway hits. One of the songs they performed was the Circle of Life from the Lion King and Sidney got really into and got really close to the tv screen. He informed us that the woman singing it was his girlfriend. The Celtic Women also did I Dream a Dream from Les Miserables that I really enjoyed.
Cleo already started her French lessons at school. Friday was her first class and she learned: Bonjour Madame Ajon and Je m'appelle Cleo. I am trying to teach her to count to 10 so she will be ahead. :-)
Tomorrow we are going to church, food shopping and completing Cleo's science project.
This week, I went to the gym at work. Each time I went, I ran 3 miles straight and walked an additional .5 mile. I am in training! Today, I went to the gym and I will go tomorrow too. This morning, we got Cleo and Sidney some church shoes from PayLess and Cleo a pair of sturdy, cute maryjanes for school. We got Sidney some additional school supplies because last week we got stuff from the list for his old class instead of his new class and we had to get the missing items now that he's going to be in a new class on Monday.
All this week we made Cleo's lunch. She would help. She had ham and cheese Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday she had a creamy peanut butter and grape jam sandwich. Friday, she had turkey and cheese. This week, she's going to try eating the cafeteria food. They have a pretty diverse selection of food. It costs $2 for lunch each day. We set up an account online for her which the school will deduct money from when she eats lunch at the cafeteria. Cleo will have a four digit number assigned to her that she will punch into a keypad in the cafeteria so that the cafeteria will know which account to deduct the money from. Our big girl!
My dad sent me the below picture this week. His old friend Carla, my godmother, gave it to him. He's in California visiting all of his old pals. I see my resemblance to Sidney. Right now, I don't think I look like Cleo or Sidney very much. I love the little collar and sleeves on my girly blouse.
Sidney is making tremendous progress with potty training. He is in only his underwear and shorts all day at daycare and we have started to do that at home too. He still sleeps in a pull-up. We are so happy and proud of him.
Have a good week!
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